Never judge a book by its cover

Garikai Mazara

Meeting Pamella Kamuzonda for the first time can be very deceiving. As they always advise, never judge a book by its cover.

Pamella, or Pam as she is called by the ever-growing legion of farmers who call her almost every minute for advice, is a graduate from the Midlands State University, with a BSc in Agronomy. But her fashion sense belies her passion for agriculture.

“That is a general misconception, that for one to love farming or to be a farmer, one has to be scruffy or dirty-looking all the time. Even with these nails, when I get to do shovelling, the farming demon in me comes out,” she laughed the issue off last week.

At 28 years old, Pamella is part of the emerging breed of female agronomists who are taking over the agriculture landscape that was previously dominated by men.

“There has always been a stereotype about women and agriculture, that we are not cut from the same cloth as men but if you go back into our agricultural history, you will realise that our grandmothers and mothers were the ones who did most of the work in the fields. So the template has always been there, we are just taking it a step further and trying to help disseminate vital agronomy information,” she said.

After graduating from the Gweru-based institution of higher learning in 2015, Pamella went on to work for a leading seed house in the capital, before joining a private college where she was a farm manager.

But she felt she was too removed from where all the action was, and left the private college to work hand-in-glove with farmers.

“The seed house and private college gave me the necessary stepping stones but I felt I was too far away from where my heart and feelings lay, so I decided to get near the farmers.”

Then at the beginning of this year, she started holding demonstrations and field days with farmers, with special emphasis on the orphaned, the single parents, the widowed and the marginalised farmers.

The response has been overwhelming.

Evidently, her phone was literally ringing off the hook during the hour-long chat, with farmers from all the corners of the country consulting her.

“In the short six months I have founded Unique Farming Solutions, an agricultural consulting concern, I have been all over the country holding demos, field days and workshops. Here and there I also get called into the sub-region, with consulting visits to Botswana and South Africa,” she said.

Pam has been so passionate about horticulture that she not only consults and advises widely, but she also runs her own farming concerns.  “I have plots in Ruwa and Domboshava where I breed seeds. Seed breeding is a very sensitive area, otherwise I would be hosting my demos at my plots.”

Her advice to the farming upstart?

“Farmers should start small and grow. I have come across farmers who fail because they want to start big. As they start small, there are some essentials that they need to look out for.

“Do the necessary market research for the crop you want to grow, where you want to sell it. Then start by having a soil test on your field, this is very important as it will determine what fertilisers are to be used. Farmers should also adopt best practices like using hybrid seeds, scouting for pests and diseases every day as well as proper disease and pest identification, followed by a rigorous and constant spraying regime.” Pamella is very passionate about organic farming. She says it is the only way to keep soils healthy as well as provide healthy diets.  “I know many farmers are into synthetic fertilisers and chemicals but this increases the risk of many diseases that afflict us today, like the varied cancers that are commonplace today.”

Very active on social media, she believes that today’s farmer cannot do without information technology.

Pamella will be holding a training session with farmers in Mount Pleasant on Sunday.

“Most of my interactions with farmers are very exciting and informative, and this one will be special as we will be looking at a success story in backyard farming – a farmer who has made it in spite of using limited financial resources and a limited space on her urban home.”